The present invention relates to surgical fasteners and in particular, to surgical anchors suitable for fastening sutures in bio-organic materials, for example, bone. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cartridge for holding a surgical fastener or anchor for ease of handling prior to insertion. The invention also relates to a combination comprising a cartridge and a surgical fastener, preferably disposed in a sterile package. The invention also relates to the surgical anchor itself.
This application is related to co-pending application Ser. No. 08/426,715 (2346-7), commonly owned by the Assignee of the present application. Application Ser. No. 08/426,715 discloses a surgical bone anchor or fastener for fastening sutures to bone. That application discloses various embodiments of bone anchors including a bone anchor of the type shown in this application. The present application relates to a convenient cartridge assembly for holding the suture anchor, for threading a suture into the suture anchor and for holding the suture anchor in a convenient position prior to its engagement and fixation by a suture anchor emplacement device. The present application also relates to an improvement to the surgical anchor disclosed in the above-described co-pending application.
Reference is also made to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 08/294,067 (2346-2) for a basic disclosure of surgical anchors of the type described herein.